VANCOUVER, Sept. 4 /CNW/ - A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. is pleased to
announce the opening of its latest shopping centre location at CrossIron
Mills.
    Located just north of Calgary in the community of Balzac, the new
shopping centre opened to the public on August 18th. With over 1.1 million
square feet of retail and entertainment space, CrossIron Mills is now the
largest single-level shopping centre in Alberta. The centre has been developed
by Ivanhoe Cambridge who also developed a sister mall in Vaughan Mills,
outside Toronto, 5 years ago. Together, these two properties represent the
only enclosed shopping centres to be built in Canada in almost 20 years.
    A&W operates a franchised restaurant in CrossIron Mills 17 use food
court. Sales for the opening week were outstanding.
    "We are very proud to be a part of such an impressive development and
equally proud to once again expand our relationship with Ivanhoe Cambridge,"
said Patti Parente, A&W's Senior Director of Real Estate. "Our partners at
Ivanhoe Cambridge have demonstrated enormous vision and courage in opening a
shopping centre of this size in the midst of what has been a tough time for
many retailers in Canada. Based on the excitement of the opening week, the
quality of the retail tenants and the tremendous response from consumers, we
think they have hit a home run."
    Parente went on to say that "A&W currently operates 217 shopping centre
restaurants in Canada, out of a total of 700 restaurants system wide. We have
come to dominate the hamburger quick-service segment in Canadian shopping
malls and the growth of this business is of major strategic importance to our
company."
    The CrossIron Mills opening is A&W's 12th new restaurant to open in 2009.
Several more are under construction in many regions of the country.

    A&W is Canada's second largest hamburger chain. Operating coast- to-
coast, A&W restaurants feature famous trade-marked menu items such as The
Burger Family®, Chubby Chicken® and A&W Root Beer®.